"When trust is no longer institutionalized, we improvise it, and when legitimacy is no longer settled, then it's performed, and when neither is renewed, risk quietly accumulates."

In this episode of Understandable Insights, Sue and Eric start with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act—a foundational but unglamorous framework that keeps expiring because of congressional sloth, cyber has become partisan, or it "isn't shiny." Then they dig into the DNI's unusual presence at an FBI raid on Georgia's Fulton County election office, where Sue explains the authorities of the DNI. The episode closes with Cuba and Russia, examining how transactional relationships are replacing durable alliances when legitimacy can no longer be assumed. The throughline: trust can't be borrowed—and when authority is misapplied, it doesn't reassure.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Understandable Insights

00:33 Super Bowl Reflections

02:50 About Episode 30

4:00 Cybersecurity and Legislative Instability

11:24 The DNI Went Down To Georgia

18:15 Cuba's Geopolitical and Economic Struggles

26:58 Episode 30 Takeaways

30:22 What We're Watching

About the show:

Understandable Insights: Information to Intelligence with Sue Gordon is the national security podcast that provides you an elemental understanding of the world as it is, not how you prefer it to be.

Each week, Eric Koepp — a former Marine, father, and entrepreneur — sits down with the Honorable Sue Gordon, the nation’s former top career intelligence officer. Together, they break down the headlines shaping our world and ask what they really mean for citizens, leaders, and institutions.

From armed conflict to emerging tech, foreign interference to the resilience of democracy — this is where raw information becomes real intelligence. Unfiltered. Candid. Unapologetically clear.

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